Oh, hell. I can feel him. His body feels different. Oh, hell. He’s changing.
“Stay down.” He fell to her side.
Daring to take a look, she saw the impossible.
Gray fur flowed over his skin. Cracking noises erupted as his bones broke on their own, then moved into nonhuman positions. His eyes glowed with even more amber and fangs sprang outward as his jaws grew longer, forming a long snout. He writhed as though in pain as growls came and went with the transformation. His clothing tore away. A tail sprouted and hands morphed into paws.
The werewolf sprang to his feet, lowered his head, and growled at her.
She cringed, turned her face to the ground, and got ready to feel his fangs drive into her flesh. When it didn’t happen, she almost didn’t believe it. He was up and running, leaving her lying on the ground.
Rick and Gunner rushed to her side, then helped her to her feet.
“Baby, are you hurt?”
“Go! He’s the one you’ve been searching for.” She pointed in the direction the wolf had gone. “Don’t worry about me. Get him!”
She didn’t have to tell them again. They bolted after him, tearing their clothes from their bodies as they ran. The change took them even while in motion. In only a few moments, two large brown bears chased after the wolf.
It was true. If she’d had one ounce of doubt left, it was gone. Her men, the men she’d fallen in love with were werebears.
Bears.
The thought came and went lost in the gust of wind as five wolves bolted past her, running after her men and the killer. They were powerful animals, pounding the earth underneath her.
Before she could understand what was going on, they’d disappeared over the small rise.
* * * *
Rick almost barreled into the wolf pack, but managed to throw his weight to the side before impact. He growled as he went into a roll, but he was back on his feet quickly. Gunner slid to a stop, then let out a warning growl a moment before he slammed into one of the wolves.
Damn. He hated that wolves were faster than bears. But then, bears were generally stronger.
Jacob, in his wolf form, stood on top of the rogue wolf, his jaws tightened around its neck. Although Rick knew the other wolves in their human forms, he could still recognize them as wolves.
He shifted, letting the transformation flow over him like the rushing waters of a turbulent stream. “Turn him loose. I’m going to tear him apart limb by limb.”
Gunner shifted, then snarled, giving his human version of his bear’s snarl. “Rick’s right. He’s ours. Hand him over.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Jayden motioned to Jacob who had reverted to his human body along with the rogue werewolf. “We’ve got this. You can head back home and let us deal with our own kind.”
“Fuck that. He put his dirty paws on Mallory. He has to pay for that.”
Rick and Gunner came together, their shoulders touching and faced the pack. It was their right to seek revenge.
“Rick. Gunner. Back off.” Jayden stood his ground with his pack mates forming a semicircle in front of the rogue werewolf. “If you cause problems, you’re only doing what he wants you to do.”
“How? Who is he anyway?” Rick knew a lot of the residents in and around Forever, where most of the werewolves lived, but he’d never seen that guy.
“He just moved to town, but no one knows much about him. His name’s Steven Mishton and he’s from a pack in Houston. I should’ve suspected him from the start.”
Brandon, a large black werewolf, changed, then sneered at Jayden. “Shut up, man. They don’t need to know our business.”
“I’d agree, but they’re already involved.” Jayden shook his body, as most shifters did, to rid it of the remaining vestiges of the change.
“Because he killed our livestock?” That was a good enough reason, but Rick got the impression that there was more to it. He’d love to curl his hands around the man’s neck.
“That and because of the real reason behind it.” Jacob had the man by the hair, holding him until Will Braxton yanked his arms behind him and held him still. “Jackson got wind a couple of hours ago from Steven’s cousin in Dallas. Steven here has an axe to grind. He heard about the peace between our two peoples and wanted nothing better than to put an end to it. Seems he doesn’t care for werebears much. I can understand the feeling, but not his actions.”
“So he started slaughtering our cattle figuring that we’d blame you guys. Is that it?” Gunner worked his neck, getting rid of the lingering effects of his shift.
“That’s our thinking.” Jacob snarled at Steven. “We’ll get him to talk soon enough.”